Court Orders Poland to Pay €1.3B to Pfizer
3 April, 2026 A Belgian court has ruled in favor of Pfizer Inc., ordering Poland and Romania to pay a combined €1.9 billion for failing to meet their obligations under a large-scale COVID-19 vaccine procurement agreement.The ruling stems from a 2021 contract negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of EU member states. Under its terms, countries committed to purchasing a predetermined number of doses. As the public health crisis stabilized and vaccine demand declined, Poland and Romania halted deliveries and ceased payments, prompting Pfizer to initiate legal action in 2023. Read More
'Double Recombinant' nOPV2 Variant
19 January, 2026 The novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) was widely regarded as a major advance in global polio eradication efforts. The vaccine strain was engineered to enhance genetic stability and reduce the likelihood of reversion to neurovirulence. However, a recent study published in Nature Microbiology demonstrates that, under specific conditions, even these advanced safeguards can be circumvented through viral recombination.The study reports the isolation of a “double recombinant” poliovirus from environmental samples collected in Uganda. This variant originated from the nOPV2 vaccine strain but underwent two distinct genetic recombination events with other members of Enterovirus species C. As a result of this genetic reshuffling, the virus regained a neurovirulent phenotype. Read More
